My aim in three separate posts all linked here is to explore the Siemens Xcelerator, firstly what it is, secondly, what it does and thirdly, how it does it.

These three posts are “looking into” Siemens. I am looking from the outside to see the value of this launch announcement of the Siemens Digital Business Platform. The launch proposal offers much.

Let’s break this “what it is” up into the critical parts

Firstly what does open mean?

Clarity always needs to be made on what open means for the digital business platform. Is this platform any different from the others claiming to offer a platform solution? The customer today constantly worries over any form of lock-in, and the need to spell out what open means becomes paramount.

As I understand it, there is no “vendor lock-in, it is open, and the data resides as and where the customer determines. Secondly, over time, the entire portfolio of hardware and software will become modular, cloud-connected and built on standard application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow open access.

Another critical ‘open’ is that Siemens Xcelerator includes a curated portfolio of internet of things (IoT) to enable hardware, software and digital services across Siemens and certified third parties. Siemens is building a growing ecosystem of partners; and an evolving marketplace to facilitate interactions and transactions between customers, partners and developers.

The Three Pillars of Siemens Xcelerators Digital Business Platform

The open digital business platform creates value for participants by facilitating interactions and fostering innovation between multiple parties – customers, partners, developers etc., as no one can do it alone.

A curated platform

The “curated part” for IoT-enabled hardware, software and digital services will follow key design principles of interoperability, flexibility, openness and as-a-service. This set of design principles enables APIs to be interoperable – to work.

An API stands for Application Programming Interface. API is a machine-to-machine interface where one machine makes a request, and the other machine responds to it. The interface can be thought of as a contract of service between two applications. This contract defines how the two communicate with each other using requests and responses. Interoperability is the ability of different systems, devices, applications or products to connect and communicate in a coordinated way, without effort from the end-user.

This makes whatever is offered on the Siemens Digital Business Platform open to enable data to exchange freely. That exchange of data is what Digital Transformation is about, generating data insights and connecting the physical world, i.e. machines and the data virtual world, to be able to simulate, predict, monitor, anticipate and achieve the potential to connect your operating world up with others that bring a different value, in speed, value or business model.

We now come to the actual value points of “what it is” from this Siemens Xcelerator Digital Business Platform.

The Three Pillars of Siemens Xcelerator

 

Recognizing the interlinked three pillars of this open Digital Business Platform

Firstly the PORTFOLIO is building quite naturally out on the four main parts of Siemens AG’s current business, of leading solutions for industry, buildings, grids and mobility of its entire portfolio of internet of things (IoT) enabled hardware, software and digital service, not only from Siemens but increasingly from certified third parties made up from hyperscalers to independent software vendors.

The portfolio is transformed towards more open applications, with more cloud-based and as-a-service solutions and IoT-enabled hardware that can be constantly upgraded. At the same time, the collaboration will reach a new level with a growing ecosystem of partners.”

Suppose you are looking for accelerating digital transformation within your organization, no matter your business size or industry. In that case, Siemens Xcelerator makes collaboration easy and gives you access to a vibrant ecosystem of partners, developers and peers. This portfolio will encourage a growing ecosystem of partners that share the design principles of interoperability, flexibility, openness and as-a-service to build a growing portfolio.

The ability to build a vibrant ECOSYSTEM of Partners

Presently there are over 50 credited partners, including the hyperscalers of Accenture, Atos, Bentley, Deloitte, Microsoft, Nvidia and SAP but the value in exploring this growing ecosystem is the niche company or a specialist in a given application or solution that has deep domain knowledge of the industry application.

The Siemens certified partners ecosystem is set to expand rapidly now that the launch is behind Siemens.

Recently, I published an article on Siemens is building a powerful industrial partner ecosystem. That links to the growing international partner network, and the global partner finder can be found on the website. https://new.siemens.com/global/en/company/topic-areas/partners/industry.html).

If you are interested in becoming a Siemens Ecosystem Partner, so you can together innovate faster and enhance business outcomes for customers, go to this link.

The MARKETPLACE that is offering scope, content and functionality selection for your business

A Marketplace positioned today as an underlying and evolving marketplace to explore, educate, exchange and purchase. The Marketplace is set up to 1) Build & Sell, 2) Consult and Service or 3) Enable and Run. The Marketplace breaks down the topics and the vertical market searches, so potential solutions can be identified easily. Go to this link to explore the Marketplace.

There are 200 solution offerings within the Marketplace offering scope, content and functionality. Although Siemens covers a wide range of industries, the current vertical markets are Commercial Buildings, Higher Education, Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical & Life Science, power Utilities and Transport. The Topics are presently contained to Cybersecurity, Efficiency, Experience, Flexibility, Resilience and Sustainability.

Specific offerings within the Marketplace termed X, are following the design principles of interoperability, flexibility, openness and as-a-service completely, are initially Building X and a Grid X suite. These are offering a modular, fully cloud-based open software suite as available. Integrating the internet of things (IIoT) solutions across industries will emerge under Industrial Operations X, which brings sensors to the edge, to the cloud and is designed for a comprehensive IT/ OT integration of knowledge and capabilities.

Finally, I return to why Siemens has launched Siemens Xcelerator- the need for accelerating the digital transformation.

Presently, it is claimed that 70% of digital transformations fail. Many projects are often caught in pilot purgatory, and the realization of the digital transformation needs a radical ramping up, a step-change in approach.

This is the rationale for Siemens to launch their Xcelerator digital business platform.

The need is for a radically new approach. The ones that have taken on digital transformation have found it complex and demanding. It challenges much, can upend the business entirely, and that becomes a risk to undertake. Yet, these digital transformations have been undertaken often in isolation or with limited partners; this needs changing.

Siemens has signalled a new journey in a world that seems in a continuous state of flux and needs a more connected ecosystem, portfolio agility and robust, growing Marketplace for all to shop based on the Xcelerator Digital Business Platform (Website here) that will enable a greater digital transformation and value creation for customers of all sizes in the industry, buildings, grids and mobility sectors.